CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

So who tops the list of Britain’s best-loved authors? Not Shakespeare (fifth); not Jane Austen (fourth) and certainly not Dickens (who could only make sixth place).

J.K. Rowling maybe? Closer at third, so a bronze medal for her. The silver goes to Roald Dahl.

Which leaves … an author who, like Rowling, has hooked countless young people onto books and reading. The most-loved author in the nation, according to a survey commissioned by the Costa Book Award people, is Enid Blyton.

Yes, Enid is cool again, it seems, despite at least one generation in Britain missing out on lashings of the awfully good stories because local authorities in the 1980s withdrew them from library collections and school reading lists. The perceived racism and sexism have been ‘tidied up’ for a new generation and Enid has again become Top of the Pops.

More reading on Enid Blyton:

Hurrah! The sun never sets on Enid Blyton (Independent on Sunday, July 18 2004)

Gosh! Mystery of how Blyton got her revenge (Observer, September 23 2007)

Famous Five have awfully PC adventure (Times Online, June 25 2006)

The Top Ten:

1. Enid Blyton

2. Roald Dahl

3. J K Rowling

4. Jane Austen

5. William Shakespeare

6. Charles Dickens

7. J R R Tolkien

8. Agatha Christie

9. Stephen King

10. Beatrix Potter

Note how many writers for young people appear in this survey that encompasses all authors. It’s nice that the results have come out as we celebrate Children’s Book Week in Australia.

Scholastic US has released its latest ‘Kids and Family Reading Report’ – the result of a national survey of children aged between 5 and 17 and their parents. This report follows on from a similar one commissioned in 2006.

And the good news? Most kids are saying that they will always want to read books-as-we-know-them, not their technological counterparts, although they do see a complementary role for computers and hand-held devices. Far from doomsayers’ predictions that participation in online activities has led to a decline in reading, nearly two-thirds aged between 9 and 17 say that they have extended their reading experience via the Internet.

But the report does confirm what we know anecdotally – reading for pleasure falls off in the teenage years.

Although a US study, the findings are of interest to all who care about children and reading.

Publisher’s Weekly has a useful summary of the report.

The full report is in four parts:

• Kids and Reading
• Technology and the Printed Book
• The Internet : An Extension of Reading
• Parents’ Role in Kids’ Reading

The report and a video summary can be downloaded here.

Anne Frank is still speaking to British teens, more than fifty years after her diary was first published. A survey published today by Britain’s Guardian newspaper puts Anne sixth on a list of most loved reads (just after Harry Potter). And there are only five books-as-we-know-them on the list. Top of the pops are two magazines, Heat and Bliss, with online cheat-sheets for games, film scripts and blogs all coming in ahead of conventional novels. Anthony Horowitz, C.S. Lewis and Louise Rennison all make the cut.

And what do they loathe? Well, Shakespeare is up there, as are books over 100 pages, assigned reading and … Harry Potter. Yes, although Harry came in fifth on the loved reads, he also came in eighth on the loathed, so as they say, you either love him or hate him. Surprisingly, Facebook is also on the loathed list.

I wonder what an Australian survey would reveal? Any guesses?